We Found Our Thrill!

My team ready for picking!

Quarterback found some good ones!

Running back working his way down the row.

Cheerleader showing off the "fruits" of her labor!

This week we made a trek out to Edom, Tx to go blueberry picking at Blueberry Hill Farm. There you pick your own, eat all you can & pay for the rest! They charge only $10.00 for a full bucket that holds 12 pints. It was hot & humid outside about 90 degrees, yet we were prepared with hats & umbrellas. A nice treat was the farm provided cold water & cups a various areas in the picking fields. The kids had a great time eating & picking the berries. Running back had a hard time though. He is color blind and can only see blue, yellow & pink. Even though blueberries are blue, when they are ripe they have a whitish tinge to them when still on the bush. He had trouble telling if it was truly ripe or not, so we have several purplish and white berries. They are quite tart tasting but he said he likes them that way. We are hoping to make this a new family tradition. I am not to "hip" on the heat factor involved in the outing, but the sweet rewards and family time are truly worth it!

New Haircut

Cheerleader & Jennifer

The day after her ballet recital I went and had Cheerleader's hair cut. It was getting a bit shabby looking because it is so fine & thin. I kept saying cut it shorter & shorter until it was a chin length bob! She took about 5-6 inches off, I had no idea it had grown so long. She sat so still and was very patient, just like a big girl. It is soooooo cute! She looks so much older as well, I do no know if I like that, I want to keep her my "little girl". The coolest thing is that my hairdresser Jennifer is half Chinese! I got some pretty good tips on curling & conditioning Asian hair.

Sand In Our Toes!

MY TEAM!

Quarterback

Runningback

Cheerleader

Cheerleader surfing!

Pool time!

Relaxing in the shade under our tent.

MeMaw & Pop

Our Room #301

2nd bedroom

Living room, dinning room & kitchen, the 1st bedroom is across the hall from the kitchen.

Dinning room & living room

Last week we had a great vacation in North Padre Island with Head Coached extended family. The kids had a great time with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. The weather was great sunny & warm, the ocean warm & clear. "QB" & "RB" had a great time jumping the deep waves and body boarding. Cheerleader tried her best to "serse" her word for surfing. She looked so cute standing on the body board! Her most favorite thing was digging holes in the sand and building sandcastles. QB tried his best to be one of the "Big Guys" hanging out and jumping in the really deep waves. While RB favorite thing was to lie down in the shallows and the the waves wash over him and lay face down in the waves and let them carry in into shore. It drove me crazy making sure he was not a true "floater"! We stayed at the Gulf Stream Condos, MeMaw & Pop have stayed there for the past 27 years. About 1/3 of the rooms have permanent residents and all the other rooms have owners who update them every 3-4 yrs so all are decorated very nice. All are 2 bedroom, 2 bath with a sleeper couch and a full kitchen. Everyone is looking forward to next year!

P.S. Sorry there are so many pics, but I could not leave any out! I wanted to include everyone and they were all so good! Had to toot my own horn!

Mom Did It!

I want to brag on my Mom. She is a wonderful artist & can do just about anything she tries. Be it drawing, oil painting, jewelry making for her best china painting. She & a friend traveled to North Carolina to take a portrait class from a woman who has been commissioned by the Pope! The portraits she chose to do for the class was me and my sister. I think they turned out just beautiful! I just wish I had just one tenth of her talent. I think mine gets lost somewhere between my brain and my hand. Stick figures are the best I can do! I just wish I still looked like my portrait! Thanks Mom!

Too Cute For My TuTu!

Cheerleader's first bouquet of flowers from her brothers!
NaNa painted a ballet slipper with her name & date. A very special keepsake of her first recital! It even has jade beads & ladybug on the hanger!

It took 4 practice attempts to get the "Shirley Temple" hair just right!

It is NOT easy to get Asian hair to curl & stay curled, but I finally did it!

Cheerleader and cousin "A" with their flowers. Beautiful flowers for beautiful girls!

Maybe some day they can dance a duet together?!? Start the choreography now!

Cheerleader had her first ballet recital recently. Snow Bunny is also in her class. The girls were so cute in their blue "Cuddle Cub" costumes. At rehearsal many of the girls did not dance much for the shock of the large auditorium and bright lights. Come the actual recital, all the girls were perfect! We Mommies could not have been prouder! My niece "A" also takes dance from the same teacher. She received her 7 yr. award, and danced in 8 different dances! "A" absolutely loves to dance, jazz, tap, ballet & modern. I hope Cheerleader will continue, the 5 yr. award is only 4 yrs away!

For he is fully known!

Sardis UMC
Inside of Sardis UMC

Prayer candles lit in honor of each of the confirmands.

Quarterback about to be baptised by Pastor "N"!

We are so proud! Our Quarterback has accepted Christ as his one and only Savior! It was the result of a 16 week confirmation course at our church. A group of 16 kids bonded over lock-ins, Wednesday classes, field trips and prayer services. Several of the kids chose to be dunked for their baptism, so our associate pastor filled a giant 3 ft deep pool in our church courtyard and dunked them! The week before the confirmation, all the parents met at a small church in Sardis for a "Praise & Prayer" service to prepare the church for the kids arrival. That evening the kids themselves spent time in silent prayer & contemplation about their decisions in accepting Christ. The following Sunday the kids were anointed with oil & frankincense as they prayed aloud for acceptance with all of our family surrounding him. I was crying, so Mark had to say our family prayer. Afterwards the kids served the congregation communion. I cried once again as I took the "body of Christ" from my son, who served me. I cannot say enough about our associate pastor "N". He did a super job with all of our children, helping them to make their decision to accept Christ.